Paisabazaar appoints new CEO; cofounder Naveen Kukreja moves to PB Fintech as group president

PB Fintech-run credit distribution platform Paisabazaar has elevated Santosh Agarwal as its new chief executive, the company said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday.

Naveen Kukreja, who was helming the credit marketplace, has been made the group president at PB Fintech. He will continue as the non-executive director on the board of Paisabazaar.

The company said Kukreja will advise on the future strategy of Paisabazaar while scouting for a role in the larger group.


Kukreja, who was previously with Citibank, had been leading Paisabazaar since 2014 and was the cofounder of the brand.

Agarwal, the new CEO, was the chief business officer at Policybazaar, the insurance distribution arm of PB Fintech, and headed the life insurance business at the company. She has been with the firm for more than 13 years.

Under Agarwal’s leadership, Paisabazaar will expand into a larger play around savings and pension products, the company said.

Currently, the platform mostly offers unsecured and secured credit products.

On October 16, 2024, ET had reported that Paisabazaar was exploring opportunities around wealth management and investments.

The appointment of the new chief executive comes at a time when Paisabazaar has been reeling under the slowdown in the unsecured lending business across the country. The company reported a 20% year-on-year fall in the credit distribution business for the third quarter of this financial year. While secured lending increased with revenue of Rs 24 crore during October-December 2024, the business generated much lower margin than unsecured credit distribution.

Meanwhile, the chief financial officer of Paisabazaar, Vivek Audichya, has resigned from his position and will be replaced by Neeraj Tripathi, who had joined Policybazaar in 2014. He held the position of head of financial tax and reporting at the insurance marketplace.

Audichya joins Policybazaar as its new chief financial officer in place of Ashutosh Mishra, who has resigned from his position effective from March 31, the company said in the filings.